George Orwell and the Use of Literature As Propaganda
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Journal of Strategic Security Volume 8 Number 5 Volume 8, No. 3, Fall 2015 Supplement: Eleventh Annual IAFIE Article 14 Conference All Propaganda is Dangerous, but Some are More Dangerous than Others: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda Samantha Senn Marymount University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss pp. 149-161 Recommended Citation Senn, Samantha. "All Propaganda is Dangerous, but Some are More Dangerous than Others: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda." Journal of Strategic Security 8, no. 3 Suppl. (2015): 149-161. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Strategic Security by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. All Propaganda is Dangerous, but Some are More Dangerous than Others: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda Abstract The true battles of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union were fought on the ideological front: pitting democracy and capitalism against totalitarianism and communism. The Office of olicyP Coordination (OPC) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was formed in the late 1940s to help combat the spread of Communism across Europe and in the United States. Part of the “psychological warfare” included the use of propaganda. Around the same time, British author George Orwell had recently published Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both novels, due to the anti-Communist overtones, were adopted by the OPC as part of a larger anti-Soviet campaign. By examining the use by intelligence agencies of Orwell’s works during the Cold War and the potential use of those works in a post-9/11 global society, this paper aims to illustrate the fickle nature of literary works as propaganda. This article is available in Journal of Strategic Security: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol8/iss5/ 14 Senn: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda Introduction The true battles of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union were fought on the ideological front: pitting democracy and capitalism against totalitarianism and communism. In the late 1940s, the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) was formed within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in order to help combat the ideological threat of Communism. Originally headed by the eccentric Frank Wisner, the OPC was the original organization inside the United States that engaged in “psywar” (psychological warfare) against the Soviet Union.1 Part of this psywar was the use of anti-Soviet propaganda. While numerous original pieces of propaganda were created, someone within the OPC proposed the utilization of extant works as propaganda. Unlike works explicitly created for use as propaganda, literature by established authors was seen to carry more legitimacy due to the lack of connection with intelligence services.2 The use of literature as propaganda, however, is not without cost; specifically, literature endures much longer than the average propaganda pamphlet and can carry with it a much broader meaning than that intended by the propagandist. This meaning can, in certain cases, be turned against the original wielder. An excellent example of the dangers of adopting extant literature into a propaganda campaign can be found in George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. With his clear anti-Stalinist stance and penchant for political writing, he was an obvious choice for the OPC and its British counterparts;3 however, his work also contained a more global message that could be (and in certain cases have already been) used as propaganda against the United States. By examining the use by intelligence agencies of Orwell’s works during the Cold War and the potential use of those works in a post-9/11 global society, this paper aims to illustrate the fickle nature of literary works as propaganda. Animal Farm Finding a publisher for Animal Farm proved to be a daunting task for Orwell. Written largely in 1944, the so-called “fairy tale” openly criticized the Soviet Union, particularly Stalin, at a time when Great Britain was firmly committed to its ally against Nazi Germany. Finally published in 1945, the novel engendered some controversy, but was overall well-received in both Great Britain and the United States.4 Intended by Orwell to be a warning against the Stalinist perversion of socialism, Animal Farm was 1 Saunders, Francis S., The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters (New York: The New Press, 2013), 40. 2 Tony Shaw, “’Some Writers are More Equal than Others’: George Orwell, the State and Cold War Privilege,” Cold War History 4:1 (2003): 145. 3 Leab, Daniel, Orwell Subverted: The CIA and the Filming of Animal Farm (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), 1. 4 Daniel J. Leab, “The American Government and the Filming of George Orwell’s Animal Farm in the 1950s,” Media History 12:2 (2006): 133. 149 Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2015 Journal of Strategic Security, Vol. 8, No. 5 immediately interpreted by some to be a whole cloth attack against socialism and communism, thus, drawing the attention of the CIA5. Allegory and Intention Animal Farm tells the story of a group of farm animals (Russians) that overthrow their bumbling, alcoholic farmer, Mr. Jones (Tsar Nicholas II), in order to achieve an idealistic vision of the future set down for them by the aging Old Major (Marx). Once Mr. Jones is driven off the farm, the animals begin setting up their new government, naturally led by the pigs, who are seen as the cleverest of animals. The lead pigs, Napoleon (Joseph Stalin) and Snowball (Leon Trotsky), take charge of the nascent self- governed farm, which, at first, seems to prosper. Due to ideological differences, Napoleon and Snowball begin to quarrel, and Napoleon eventually orders a pack of dogs under his command to chase his rival, Snowball, off the farm.6 What follows is a series of betrayals of the animals by the ruling class of pigs. The seven basic tenants of Animalism (Communism), painted on the wall of the barn, are slowly corrupted to fit the needs of Napoleon. The farm animals are, by and large, too dumb to notice until the pigs are sleeping in beds, wearing clothes, walking on two legs, and meeting Mr. Pilkington (Great Britain and the United States) and other farmers for trade negotiations. The novel ends with the animals outside the farmhouse looking “from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”7 Orwell intended the allegory to be against capitalists and communists alike, with his major goal to be a warning against totalitarianism, but it was not taken that way by intelligence agencies on either side.8 Cold War Propaganda Unsurprisingly, Animal Farm was appropriated by both American and British intelligence agencies for use as propaganda in multiple forms. Activities undertaken by the agencies included a wholesale promotion of the novel in as many markets as possible, a direct adaptation into a cartoon strip, and, most notably, the production of a film adaption. Foreign Markets Despite Orwell’s distress at some of the uses of his works by right-wing propagandists, he, nevertheless, was just as adamant as the British Information Research Department (IRD) and the OPC about translating Animal Farm into as many languages as possible.9 The preface for a Ukrainian translation explicitly stated Orwell’s purpose in writing the 5 Leab, Orwell Subverted, 9. 6 Orwell, George, Animal Farm (New York: Signet Classic, 1996), 53. 7 Ibid, 141. 8 Shaw, “Some Writers are More Equal Than Others,” 146. 9 Ibid, 147. 150 https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol8/iss5/14 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.8.3S.1483 Senn: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda novel as well as expressing his interest in smuggling the book into the Soviet Union.10 Through a concerted effort of the IRD, the OPC, and various other British and American agencies, Animal Farm made its way into the hands of readers across the world within a decade of its first publication, including Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.11 Cartoon The IRD acquired the rights to adapt Animal Farm into a cartoon strip for distribution in order to broaden the appeal of the novel to the less literary-minded population.12 Areas of distribution included Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and parts of Africa. The only two failures in distribution came from Belgrade, where the strip was not approved due to political reasons, and Tel Aviv, which insisted the pigs were unsuitable.13 Film Shortly after Orwell’s death in 1950, his widow, Sonia Blair, was approached by a group of men interested in acquiring the film rights to Animal Farm. While historians disagree regarding the identity of these men, there is no question that they were from the OPC.14 Louis de Rochmont, head of a financially stressed production company, was brought on as producer. He immediately hired John Halas and Joy Batchelor, a married couple who ran an animation company in Great Britain, as directors. Blair was adamant about maintaining the integrity of her late husband’s works, but was eventually won over by Halas and Batchelor’s storyboards and preliminary drawings. 15 Despite the source material already being critically acclaimed as “anti-Soviet,” the CIA insisted on several changes in order to make the message explicitly clear.